{"collection":"chr","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/chr/ecf/106/1060146.htm","path":"chr/ecf/106/1060146.htm","source_url":"https://sacred-texts.com/chr/ecf/106/1060146.htm","text":"Chapter XLIX.\u2014Of the Woman of Canaan Who Said, \u201cYet the Dogs Eat of the Crumbs Which Fall from Their Masters\u2019 Tables,\u201d And of the Harmony Between the Account Given by Matthew and that by Luke.\n103. Matthew, accordingly, proceeds with his narrative, after the notice of that discourse which the Lord delivered in the presence of the Pharisees on the subject of the unwashed hands. Preserving also the order of the succeeding events, as far as it is indicated by the transitions from the one to the other, he introduces this account into the context in the following manner: \u201cAnd Jesus went thence, and departed into the coasts of Tyre and Sidon. And, behold, a woman of Canaan came out of the same coasts, and cried unto Him, saying, Have mercy on me, O Lord, Thou son of David; my daughter is grievously vexed with a devil. But He answered her not a word,\u201d and so on, down to the words, \u201cO woman, great is thy faith: be it unto thee even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole from that very hour.\u201d 1073 This story of the woman of Canaan is recorded also by Mark, who keeps the same order of events, and gives no occasion to raise any question as to a want of harmony, unless it be found in the circumstance that he tells us how the Lord was in the house at the time when the said woman came to Him with the petition on behalf of her daughter. 1074 Now we might readily suppose that Matthew has simply omitted mention of the house, while nevertheless relating the same occurrence. But inasmuch as he states that the disciples made the suggestion to Him in these terms, \u201cSend her away, for she crieth after us,\u201d he seems to imply distinctly that the woman gave utterance to these cries of entreaty behind the Lord as He walked on. In what sense, then, could it have been \u201cin the house,\u201d unless we are to take Mark to have intimated the fact, that she had gone into the place where Jesus then was, when he mentioned at the beginning of the narrative that He was in the house? But when Matthew says that \u201cHe answered her not a word,\u201d he has given us also to understand what neither of the two evangelists has related explicitly,\u2014namely, the fact that during that silence which He maintained Jesus went out of the house. And in this manner all the other particulars are brought into a connection which from this point onwards presents no kind of appearance of discrepancy. For as to what Mark records with respect to the answer which the Lord gave her, to the effect that it was not meet to take the children\u2019s bread and cast it unto the dogs, that reply was returned only after the interposition of certain sayings which Matthew has not left unrecorded. That is to say, [we are to suppose that] there came in first the request which the disciples addressed to Him in regard to the woman\u2019s case, and the answer He gave them, to the effect that He was not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel; that next there was her own approach, or, in other words, her coming after Him, and worshipping Him, saying, \u201cLord, help me;\u201d and that then, after all these incidents, those words were spoken which have been recorded by both the evangelists.","title":"Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Vol. VI: The Harmony of t...","type":"page"}